Chuck Schwer, Director of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Waste Management and Prevention Division has stepped up to serve as the 2018 Chair for NEWMOA's Board. He has kindly agreed to respond to a few questions so that those who don't know him can get an idea of his background, priorities, and personal interests.

Chuck: I have been the Director of Vermont's Waste Management and Prevention Division since 2014. Prior to my current position, I was the Program Manager of Vermont's Site Cleanup Program for 27 years. In that role, I managed the state voluntary cleanup program, the Superfund program, and Vermont's Petroleum Cleanup Fund. I remain an active member of the state's Hazardous Materials Response Team. I received a MS from University of Vermont and a BS from St. Lawrence University.

NEWMOA: What do you do at VT DEC?

Chuck: As the Director, I provide leadership for the Solid and Hazardous Waste Programs, Underground Storage Tanks, Residuals, Salvage Yards, and the Site Cleanup Program (i.e., Superfund, RCRA, Brownfields, LUST). This includes managing a staff of over 60 employees as well as the Divisions budget. We will carry many important Division priorities into 2018. This includes continuing to implement our Universal Recycling law. This law bans landfill disposal of certain materials, including leaf and yard waste and commercially-produced organic material. A complete ban on landfill disposal of organic material, including residential organics is scheduled for 2020. Responding to the Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination in Bennington and other parts of Vermont continues to remain a top priority. The decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant will also require considerable effort in 2018.

NEWMOA: What are your priorities for NEWMOA? What do you hope it will accomplish?

Chuck: My priority as Chair is to focus the Board's efforts on ensuring that NEWMOA has the necessary resources to meet its mission. NEWMOA plays such an important role in the region by helping to bring the state waste and pollution prevention programs together to work effectively and efficiently on issues of common concern. Over the past year and a half, NEWMOA has taken a leadership role in bringing us together in-person to help educate us and share our experience as we respond to the widespread PFAS contamination issue. I want to ensure that NEWMOA can maintain this role. To do this, it is critical that the organization has adequate funding. In these challenging times, the Board needs to help identify and pursue both traditional and non-traditional funding sources. In this era of diminishing resources and increased competition, it is important for NEWMOA to continue its success by expanding partnerships and pursuing innovative funding solutions. NEWMOA has always been an environmental leader in the region by providing information, training state staff and the consulting community, and helping state programs tackle the most difficult of waste management problems. Its large presence in day-to-day conversations at a state level demonstrate why it is so important to ensure that NEWMOA continues to meet its mission. When NEWMOA thrives, states thrive in meeting their own missions.

NEWMOA: What's one thing you would like people to know about you?

Chuck: My family is very important to me. I am married with two children. My son lives close by, and I enjoy getting together with him often while my daughter lives in Auckland, NZ. I think my wife Kate said it best about where Carly lives, "If she moved any farther away she'd be closer!" We've enjoyed visiting her in such a wonderful and beautiful country, we just wish it wasn't so far away.

Board of Directors

NEWMOA's Board of Directors met in December to discuss NEWMOA's programs, funding, and strategic priorities. They discussed many of the projects that are described below. The Board also shared state program updates and news from the U.S. EPA.

The results of NEWMOA's recently released analysis of data collected by the northeast states on architectural C&D materials generation and processing.

The results of a MassDEP- funded study that evaluated the current and future status of C&D debris management in MA and identified and recommended potential opportunities for the diversion of a greater proportion of recyclable materials to recycling markets.

NEWMOA recently launched a food waste training and technical assistance project in rural areas of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont that will help residents reduce the generation of food waste and start or expand backyard composting. This project is developing outreach materials and training workshops that can be offered in other parts of the region.

The bi-annual MSW analysis is designed to help states and others understand the interstate flow of MSW among the Northeast states. The purpose of this initiative is to improve the quality of data and ensure that state agencies have as much information as possible to monitor trends in waste disposal and interstate flow in the region. NEWMOA's Solid Waste Metrics Workgroup shares the states' data and overseas the analysis. The study covers MSW disposal for 2014 (the latest year that the data was available) and includes graphs showing data trends since 2000.

Since NEWMOA began publishing presentations on MSW disposal, the Workgroup has found that all of the NEWMOA states export MSW to facilities in other states in the region for disposal, and with the exception of Rhode Island and Vermont, disposal facilities in all of these states import MSW from other northeast states. Historically, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont exported more MSW than they imported, by a wide margin for some of them. In the past, Maine and New Hampshire have imported significantly more MSW than they exported. However, in 2014, the quantity of MSW imports to Maine decreased significantly compared to prior years due to the closure of a waste-to-energy facility, and the quantity imported to Maine was similar to the quantity exported from Maine.

NEWMOA C&D materials analysis assessed the wastes that were processed, recovered, and disposed in each NEWMOA state and characterized their interstate flow for 2013 (the latest year that the data was available). The new presentation includes comparisons to the 2006 data that is available in NEWMOA's 2009 report on C&D debris. State environmental agencies are responsible for monitoring and managing C&D materials processing and disposal capacity. To fulfill this responsibility, they gather data from the C&D materials processing, transfer, and disposal facilities that they regulate on the source of their incoming material, including imports from other states and the destination of outgoing material. NEWMOA's C&D Materials Workgroup shares this state data and overseas NEWMOA's analysis.

Overall, NEWMOA found that the quantity of C&D waste generated in 2013 that was disposed of was an estimated 8.33 million tons, approximately the same amount as in 2006 (8.47 million tons). If New Jersey and New York are excluded, the quantity of C&D waste disposed of by the New England states was 36 percent less in 2013 than in 2006 (2.08 and 3.24 million tons, respectively). The amount of C&D waste requiring disposal is affected by economic activity and trends and the availability of recycling and landfill use markets and infrastructure.

Hazardous Waste Program

Hazardous Waste Training

In collaboration with EPA Region 1, NEWMOA organized a day-long workshop in December to discuss the status of Treatment, Storage, and Disposal facilities in New England. Evaluations of the workshop were positive.

On December 22, IMERC submitted public comments to the U.S. EPA on its Mercury Reporting Requirements for the TSCA Mercury Inventory. Overall, IMERC supports the intent of the proposed rule, but offered comments on the reporting schedule, a proposed exemption for mercury-added components, the zero threshold for mercury, compliance guides, reporting categories, and electronic reporting. The public comment period ends January 11, 2018.

2016 Triennial Reporting

Notification continues to be a priority for IMERC. As of January 5, 2018, more than 260 companies have submitted their 2016 triennial applications through IMERC's e-filing system. The IMERC Notification Committee estimates that 90 companies, or about 25 percent, need to file. IMERC is following-up with these firms with instructions for how they can come into compliance.

Notification through the e-filing system enables companies to comply with the Mercury-added Product Notification and Labeling requirements of Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota (labeling only), New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (labeling only). Reporting is required for any company that sold or distributed mercury-added products into the states listed above during calendar year 2016.

On October 24, Zack Leimkuehler of Expera Specialty Solutions provided the IC2 with a paper-making primer and described some of the sustainability issues and trade-offs Expera has faced during development of an array of paper products, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-free, unbleached, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified, and post-consumer recycled fiber. Zack also described the difference between molded fiber products and paper products, as well as the links in the supply chain from material sourcing the finished consumer product. The use of fluorinated chemicals as a grease and moisture barrier in food packaging has raised concerns about this potential route of human exposure to PFAS.

The Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) created the Pollution Prevention Options Assessment System (P2OASys) in the mid-1990s to analyze chemical and equipment alternatives. P2OASys was one of the first hazard-analysis tools to help small and mid-size businesses compare several chemicals and hazards. TURI recently updated and launched the new, web-based version of this tool. On October 31, Dr. Jason Marshall, Director of the TURI Cleaning Laboratory, gave an overview of the benefits of using P2OASys and a primer on its use. Jason also described how P2OASys compares with

other chemical hazard assessment tools, such as GreenScreen and QCAT.

The IC2 Training Workgroup is busily planning more webinars for early 2018. IC2 webinars are a members-only benefit. For more information, contact Topher Buck.

Chemical Hazard Assessment Database

The IC2 recently added a new GreenScreen for medetomidine to the Chemical Hazard Assessment Database. Medetomidine exhibits biocidal activity in shell-building organisms and is used as an antifouling agent. It is also used in veterinary medicine as an analgesic and a sedative.

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